Japanese AR App Lets You See Dead People at Virtual Graves

Japanese tombstone engraving company Ryoshin Sekizai is out with a new AR app, Suma Tomb, that places the image of a dead person at a virtual gravesite of your choice. By opening up the app, you’re able to see a 2D image of the deceased at a geo-locked location.

The image can also come with a message from your dead relative or friend.

“Take care of yourself. We’re always watching over you,” reads the speech bubble above dead Japanese parents on a promotional image, according to SoraNews24.

Where you place your dead loved one in the world is entirely up to you—it doesn’t have to be a graveyard.

SoraNews 24 reports that keeping an image of your deceased around costs the equivalent of $4.50 a month in Japanse yen. But as an added bonus, the company is offering the first year free for grieving families and will even hold the deceased’s ashes for up to 15 years as long as the monthly fee is paid.

Suma Tomb follows in the footsteps of the company’s Spot Message app. The AR app, which debuted last year, allows people to record voice and text messages to be left at locations of their choosing. After they die, you then head out with your smartphone to find their notes via GPS.

Yoshiyuki Katori, the president of Ryoshin Sekizai, said the death of his uncle inspired him to make the app.

“I wondered how comforting it would be if he could talk to me at his grave, with messages like ‘How are you doing?’ and ‘Hang in there.,’” Katori told The Japan Times.